rescuers of jews
Apuokienė Juozefa
KAZYS APUOKAS
JUOZEFA APUOKIENĖ
When the Nazi German army invaded Lithuania, writer, publicist Mejer Elinas and music educator Dveira (Busia) Kormanaitė-Elinienė, along with their daughter Esther born in 1940, attempted to escape to Russia, but they were unsuccessful. On August 15, 1941, the Elinas family found themselves behind the barbed wire fence of the Kaunas Ghetto. Soon it became clear to all the ghetto inmates that the children of the condemned were just a burden to the new regime, so they were the first ones in danger. In December 1941, an anti-fascist organization called AKO was established in the Kaunas Ghetto, led by Mejer Elinas's brother Chaim who became a legendary hero. One of the goals of this organization was to establish contacts with people outside the ghetto and find good people who would agree to save Jewish children. Dveira Elinienė was also searching for such people. One night in December 1941, she decided to save her daughter. With little Esther in her arms, D. Elinienė slipped through the barbed wire fence and began long, dangerous wanderings.
Finding a hiding place for an extended period was extremely difficult. Many people were willing to help, but there were also unreliable individuals, informers, from whom they had to flee before it was too late. From D. Elinienė's testimony on January 18, 1952: ”I, Elinienė Dveira, know Kazys Apuokas, born in 1885, and Juozefa Apuokienė from pre-war times. I had the opportunity to experience their hatred for fascism, extraordinary courage, sympathy, and assistance to the oppressed and persecuted during the German occupation. Risking their lives, they provided temporary shelter and food for me, a fugitive from the Kaunas Ghetto. I have witnessed how the Apuokas family also helped war prisoners who had escaped from German prisoner-of-war camps. However, it was not possible to stay with this family for a longer period.”
D. Elinienė struggled for a long time to find a permanent hiding place for her daughter Esther. She had to return to the Apuokas several times for a real haven of peace, but in October 1943, she knocked on the door of the famous Kaunas intellectuals Čiurlionis-Zubovas. D. Elinienė was touched by the sincerity and warmth shown to her by Sofija Čiurlionienė, her daughter Danutė, and her son-in-law Vladimiras Zubovas. This family lived in the centre of Kaunas, so hiding Esther there for a long time was very dangerous, therefore, a refuge was found in the Benedictine monastery and in the Čiobiškis children's home under the care of Bishop Teofilius Matulionis - there Estera happily awaited the end of the war.
JUOZEFA APUOKIENĖ
When the Nazi German army invaded Lithuania, writer, publicist Mejer Elinas and music educator Dveira (Busia) Kormanaitė-Elinienė, along with their daughter Esther born in 1940, attempted to escape to Russia, but they were unsuccessful. On August 15, 1941, the Elinas family found themselves behind the barbed wire fence of the Kaunas Ghetto. Soon it became clear to all the ghetto inmates that the children of the condemned were just a burden to the new regime, so they were the first ones in danger. In December 1941, an anti-fascist organization called AKO was established in the Kaunas Ghetto, led by Mejer Elinas's brother Chaim who became a legendary hero. One of the goals of this organization was to establish contacts with people outside the ghetto and find good people who would agree to save Jewish children. Dveira Elinienė was also searching for such people. One night in December 1941, she decided to save her daughter. With little Esther in her arms, D. Elinienė slipped through the barbed wire fence and began long, dangerous wanderings.
Finding a hiding place for an extended period was extremely difficult. Many people were willing to help, but there were also unreliable individuals, informers, from whom they had to flee before it was too late. From D. Elinienė's testimony on January 18, 1952: ”I, Elinienė Dveira, know Kazys Apuokas, born in 1885, and Juozefa Apuokienė from pre-war times. I had the opportunity to experience their hatred for fascism, extraordinary courage, sympathy, and assistance to the oppressed and persecuted during the German occupation. Risking their lives, they provided temporary shelter and food for me, a fugitive from the Kaunas Ghetto. I have witnessed how the Apuokas family also helped war prisoners who had escaped from German prisoner-of-war camps. However, it was not possible to stay with this family for a longer period.”
D. Elinienė struggled for a long time to find a permanent hiding place for her daughter Esther. She had to return to the Apuokas several times for a real haven of peace, but in October 1943, she knocked on the door of the famous Kaunas intellectuals Čiurlionis-Zubovas. D. Elinienė was touched by the sincerity and warmth shown to her by Sofija Čiurlionienė, her daughter Danutė, and her son-in-law Vladimiras Zubovas. This family lived in the centre of Kaunas, so hiding Esther there for a long time was very dangerous, therefore, a refuge was found in the Benedictine monastery and in the Čiobiškis children's home under the care of Bishop Teofilius Matulionis - there Estera happily awaited the end of the war.